I hope all of you had an amazing Christmas! This holiday season I finally felt as though I could say I have perfected perfected the French macaron. After many... many attempts I finally had a batch come out perfectly! They were very much a hit at our holiday party so expect to see some more on the blog soon!

This week I decided to break open a cookbook rather than go to the Internet for inspiration. (Shocker I know.) However, I picked up a new book focus on Irish dishes and I couldn't wait to test a couple. Its been a while since I have made a roulade cake, so I thought I'd give it a try!

rou·lade

ro͞oˈläde/

noun

noun: roulade; plural noun: roulades

1.

a dish cooked or served in the form of a roll, typically made from a flat piece of meat, fish, or sponge cake, spread with a soft filling and rolled up into a spiral.

The great thing about a roulade is that it can be filled with anything, so feel free to get creative!

On another note, I'm trying something a bit different with my food photography today. I was inspired by some food blogs to try some messy food photography and a messy roulade cake seems like the perfect starting point!

Hope you enjoy!

Chocolate Raspberry Roulade

Serves 10

For the cake:

6 eggs, separated, at room temperature

250 g icing sugar

25g baking soda

100 g cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a baking tray measuring about 12x16 with a little butter and line it with baking parchment. Using a handheld electric mixer, whisk together the egg yolks and 175g of the icing sugar on high until very pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Set aside. In a clean bowl with clean beaters, whisk the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Add the rest of the icing sugar and beat until very glossy stiff peaks form.

Sift the cornflour and cocoa together. Fold this into the egg-yolk mixture alternately with the egg whites until well blended. Spread mixture evenly on prepared baking tray. Bake until edges are firm and middle is still very soft to the touch, about 8-10 minutes. Cool completely and remove from pan.

For the Filling:

12 oz whipping cream

50 g caster sugar*

1/8 tsp. vanilla paste

350 ml raspberry jam

2 Tablespoons water

8 oz fresh raspberries

Whip cream until it holds still peaks. Fold in caster sugar and vanilla and set aside. Stir the raspberry jam and the water together. Brush diluted jam atop the cooled cake, covering the whole surface. Then, layer the whipped cream atop the cake, leaving about a 2 inch border. The whipped cream layer should be approx. 3/4 inch thick. Sprinkle raspberries atop the whipped cream layer.

Starting at the side farthest away from you, roll the sponge up lengthwise, curling it over on itself with the help of the parchment. Carefully transfer to a serving tray and refrigerate for an hour before serving.

*To make cater sugar, place 50g granulated sugar in a coffee grinder and pulse until very fine.